Saturday, January 19

FREE TO AIR

Seconds From Disaster, 7mate, 6.30pm

IT'S NOT exactly the most comforting of concepts - let's take a story from the news, something truly horrific, and go into excruciating detail about what happened. And then let's go back and examine it again. And again. And then a few more times with computer graphics, re-enactments and witness reports to discover whatever it was that went wrong to cause the disaster. But, strangely, despite the weirdness of it all, this is at times a truly fascinating series that shows how the tiniest flaw can have huge consequences. This week, for example, the accident in question is the blast that consumed the third-largest oil refinery in the US, the BP plant in Texas City. Before March 23, 2005, it produced 41.6 million litres of petrol a day, then, during a routine test of the distillation works, someone made one small but significant error. Liquid waste built up, the fumes ignited and 15 people were killed before it could be controlled. If nothing else, this will make you a lot more careful.

An explosion in an oil refinery is examined in Seconds From Disaster. Photo: Bloomberg

In Their Own Words: British Novelists, SBS One, 2.50pm

IF YOU'RE a lover of good novels, or just wonder about the people behind your favourites, this series is an absolute must, with the men and women who penned some of the best-known literature from the 1970s and '80s talking about their motivations and creations. It's a convoluted and often simplified justification of their works, with the upheavals of the time cited again and again, and a flood of stock footage to prove it - always fun to see Ronald Reagan juxtaposed with English football hooligans - but it's worth it to hear Salman Rushdie discuss Midnight's Children, the novel that won him the 1981 Booker Prize.

The Young Montalbano, SBS Two, 8.35pm

REMEMBER the series Inspector Montalbano? The one about the gruff Italian investigator who wandered the picturesque countryside of Sicily solving crimes? Well this is, in the grand tradition of wringing every possible morsel of entertainment from a concept, the prequel, looking at his early years.

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SCOTT ELLIS

PAY TV

Justified, FX, 7.30pm

WHILE perhaps it lacks the profile and/or buzz of other American cable dramas such as Game of Thrones or Sons of Anarchy, there is a lot to like about Justified. Set around the travails of enigmatic deputy US Marshal Raylan Givens, in some ways it is a crime procedural - there is a season-long narrative anchored by a ''bad guy'' and often a crime-of-the-week case will pop up. However, The Mentalist it is not. The character of Givens, who has returned to his home town after a stint in Miami, is taken from the novels of Elmore Leonard and the series, set in Kentucky, is suitably well written and put together. The first season was shown in the US in 2010, and although FX began airing it only in 2012, the channel is certainly doing the right thing by fans now. Having caught up to the US schedule, it is airing the show's season-four episodes a couple of hours after they air Stateside, which means no preview for tonight's episode is available. This much we know: Raylan begins unravelling a cold case that echoes all the way to his troubled boyhood, and Boyd finds himself threatened by a Pentecostal preacher. Based on the excellent instalment served up last week, quality control is not an issue here.

ANDREW MURFETT

The North Pole Conspiracy, History, 8.30pm

In 1909, two Americans each claimed to have reached the North Pole first.

Albert Nobbs, M Masterpiece, 8.30pm

Earnest but underrated Glenn Close drama that was an Oscar contender in 2012.

MOVIES

Dogs in Space (1986), ABC2, 9.30pm

RICHARD Lowenstein's Dogs in Space - a semi-autobiographical account of friends, drugs and confusion in a Richmond house in the late 1970s - is a glimmering exhibit in the often dusty and cobweb-strewn corridors of Australian cinema. Much, understandably, has been made of the cult presence of INXS singer Michael Hutchence, and the brilliant performance from Saskia Post, but this is a film of more wide-ranging importance. But first, a declaration: I taught Lowenstein at school and, despite that, we remain friendly; my sister Sue is a frequent producing collaborator; and I have worked with Lowenstein's long-time cameraman, Andrew de Groot, many times. I consider him one of the major talents of Australian cinema, his work on 2011's Autoluminescent: Rowland S. Howard is proof enough. So, while I can't pretend to be objective, I would argue - and have since Strikebound in 1984 - that Lowenstein is one of the more interesting Australian directors. He has had a variable career (few support Say a Little Prayer), but he has produced several fine films (He Died with a Falafel in His Hand included) and keeps threatening to make a great one. In the meantime, let's celebrate the existence of Dogs in Space, a subtly crafted film that precisely captures a time and ethos, made by a young director, cast and crew who captured what is best about untethered ''student'' filmmaking, where a belief in free-flowing, kaleidoscopic narrative gives us a precious window into our life and culture.

Must Love Dogs (2005), Channel Nine, 9.30pm

SOME romantic comedies you just want to love, despite the fact you know there's no future in the relationship. One is Must Love Dogs, where Jake (John Cusack) pretends to love canines to woo the heart of Sarah Nolan (Diane Lane). It's a dumb and obvious conceit - you can easily imagine everything that will happen - but many of us have been in love with Lane since she was a girl in A Little Romance, seen her develop into a teenager in Rumble Fish and then mature into what critics have lovingly labelled ''the thinking man's fantasy''. Every Diane Lane film is a gift, provided her character is not moaning about men or a villa in Tuscany in disrepair. If you will yourself hard enough, you may just enjoy this.